MONTREAL -- Luka Magnotta's insanity defence would have been torpedoed before it ever got to the jury, had the Crown had its way.

Just before closing arguments last week, prosecutor Louis Bouthillier argued the jury shouldn't be allowed to consider Magnotta's request to be found not criminally responsible.

That would have all but guaranteed a guilty verdict, since Magnotta's entire defence hinged on insanity.

The former sex worker from Toronto admitted from the start of the trial that he killed Jun Lin, 33.

Bouthillier said Magnotta's insanity defence is groundless because defence psychiatrists relied on his unsubstantiated claims that he killed and dismembered the Chinese student at the urging of voices and a "weird energy."

The jury was absent when Bouthillier made his arguments on Dec. 8.

"My submission to you is ... there is no independent evidence that could lead these experts to find as they found, without the self-serving report from the accused."

Judge Guy Cournoyer rejected the Crown motion.

He said the defence presented medical files and psychiatrists' observations, aside from Magnotta's statements.

"The issue of mental disorder will be left with the jury no matter how unlikely such a verdict may appear," the judge said.

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Other things the Magnotta jury didn't hear:

Several Crown witnesses remarked that Magnotta had gained a lot of weight behind bars.

One witness, who met a slender Magnotta in France just after the killing, testified he didn't even recognize the defendant two years later.

The jury didn't know that defence lawyer Luc Leclair said his husky client's reputation was suffering.

"The Crown wants to give the impression that Mr. Magnotta is taking advantage of the system to stuff himself at taxpayers' expense!" Leclair said during a break.

He blamed Magnotta's 70-pound weight gain on medication, but Magnotta's own current treating psychiatrist, Dr. Renee Roy, testified the killer gets up at night just to eat.

Bernardo was the only Canadian case Cournoyer could find when he searched for legal precedents.

Prior to raping and killing two Ontario schoolgirls in 1991 and 1992, one of whom he dismembered, Bernardo had ordered the book American Psycho, which depicts similar crimes.

The Ontario prosecutor wanted the book to be read in court, but the judge suppressed it.

Cournoyer did the same with Basic Instinct.

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Magnotta's fitness to stand trial remained an issue throughout the process, unbeknownst to the jury.

They weren't told that a lengthy morning delay in mid-October was due to Magnotta's request to see his psychiatrist.

At one point, the judge summoned a corrections official, with the jury absent, to say Magnotta needs to get to the finish line.

When the official said all inmates need to be treated the same, Cournoyer reminded him that nothing about the Magnotta case is ordinary.

"When we ... get someone in another country with a Hercules aircraft, we can consider more specific measures," Cournoyer said.

He ordered officials to log Magnotta's comings and goings to ensure the defendant could take his medication regularly.

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A comical situation arose at trial when a juror asked the judge if he could attend a friend's wedding.

The friend was marrying an inmate at a federal prison.

Judge Cournoyer approved the request and provided one of the trial's best quotes.

"The jury will have to determine whether the accused will go to prison or to a mental institution," the judge said. "By going to this wedding, that member will have seen one of the two options. It doesn't happen often."